KATHMANDU – Dec. 9, 2004 – Local professional Sabin Sapkota kept the Nepalese flag flying high leading his team of H Nakajima, Maj. BN Rai and Kesang Lama to a superb win at the Standard Chartered Pro-am of the Surya Nepal Masters, the only international professional golfing event in Nepal.
The winning team tallied 105 stableford points. Meanwhile Uttam Singh Mundy of Chandigarh warmed up for a shot at his second Amby Valley PGAI Tour title in the Himalayan Kingdom with a superb round of five-under 67 at the par-72, Gokarna Forest Golf Resort, where Mundy won the Surya Nepal Masters 2002.
The tournament was played on a Team Stableford format where the better net score out of the two amateurs plus the professional’s score which was mandatory over 18 holes, counted towards the team score.
Delhi’s Ajay Gupta accompanied by RK Pradhan, Lt. LP Gurung and Manohar Das Mool fionished second at 102 points, while Chennai’s Sandeep Syal and his team of Wangchen Dhonoup, Pradip K Shreshta and Lal PP Gurung finished third at 101 points.
Sabin Sapkota as the pro in the winning team was richer by Rs 5,000 while Gupta and Syal earned Rs 3,000 and Rs 2,000 respectively. Mundy pocketed Rs 3,000 for returning a five-under 67 (41 points) the ‘Best Individual Score by a Professional’ while Shiv Kapur, Rahul Ganapathy and another leading Nepalese pro Deepak Acharya shot rounds of two-under 70 (38 points) each to tie second in that category. The runners-up shared the second place purse of Rs 2,000.
KC Dhurba returned an impressive tally of 40 points to win the ‘Best Individual Amateur Round’ prize while Maj. LP Gurung finished second in that category with 38 points.
John Players, the new name in garments in Nepal, hosted a number of interesting contests. The ‘Closest to the Pin on hole# 5’ was carded by Balram Thapa while a similar prize on hole # 10 was won by NK Rai.
Wangchen Dhondup won the unique ‘Blindfolded Monstor Putt’ prize with an effort that reached as close as eight inches from the pin. Indra BK finished second in that category.
Among the professionals participating in the pro-am were the likes of current Order of Merit leader and winner of five events in seven appearances this season, Ashok Kumar; Asian Games Gold Medalist, Shiv Kapur; defending champion, Digvijay Singh; 2002 Indian Open winner, Vijay Kumar; former Surya Nepal Masters winner and twice Honda-Siel PGA Golf Championship winner, Uttam Mundy and winner of over 100 professional titles in a career spanning over 35 years, Rohtas Singh among others.
